Kinetico installation

[thereinmadnesslies]

We are getting a Kinetico water softener installed tomorrow.

Has anyone else had one put in?

If so did you keep one kitchen tap unsoftened?

Will the installer need to check all the bathrooms etc - I'm not sure if I should be tidying up or not [lazy emoicon]

[RunsWithScissors]

Hope the solution is simple (and not costly) madness

[PigletJohn]

I drink mine. It makes better tea.

I think I found the sodium (not salt) content of softened water on Wikipedia. The example I found was for abnormally high content due to abnormally hard water somewhere in the US, but IIRC you get more sodium from a bowl of cornflakes, or two slices of bread, or a dollop of ketchup, than from a day's drinking softened water. The harder the incoming water is, the more sodium bicarbonate you find in the softened water, as it works by ionic exchange with the calcium.

here we are A person who drinks two liters (2 L) of softened, extremely hard water (assume 30 gpg) will consume about 126 mg more sodium (2L or 0.528 gallon x 30 gpg x 8 mg/L/gpg = 126 mg), than if unsoftened water is consumed

and

A low sodium diet is a diet that includes no more than 1,500 to 2,400 mg of sodium per day.

(One teaspoon of salt has about 2,300 mg sodium.) People who follow a vigorous or moderate exercise schedule are usually advised to limit their sodium intake to 3,000 mg per day and those with moderate to severe heart failure are usually advised to limit their sodium intake to 2,000 mg per day.[citation needed]. People who have been diagnosed with Ménière's disease, as well, need to follow a low-sodium diet. The human minimum requirement for sodium in the diet is about 500 mg per day, which is typically less than one-sixth as much as many diets "seasoned to taste". For certain people with salt-sensitive blood pressure, this extra intake may cause a negative effect on health]]

[thekingfisher]

we have had 2 kinetico softners and use the blocks which are def more efficient ( we've had 2 as we moved house from where the original was installed) We got the installer to deliver salt in the blocks.
We have a cold water drinking tap in the litchen but I make all our hot drinks with the softened water.

you will notce a difference I promise

[thereinmadnesslies]

Yay it's all fitted. The installation guy was lovely, it was a tricky job but he didn't moan about the extra stuff.

[RunsWithScissors]

Yay! Glad to hear it went well.

PigletJohn, as always you have been a wonderful help (I've gleaned a lot of wonderful/helpful information from your post helping others on the site). Very much appreciated.

[RunsWithScissors]

kingfisher thanks for the input too. Would love not having to descale the kettle (deal with marks on taps, water on shower door... )

[thereinmadnesslies]

Thanks everyone for the feedback and reassurance

[pootlebug]

We have a Kinetico and love it too. Our kitchen tap and boiling water tap both have softened water. We do have un-softened water in the utility room tap. If I'm drinking water I fill up a bottle/jug from the utility room as prefer the taste of unsoftened, but obviously for tea/coffee/cooking etc we drink the softened stuff.

We get our salt from a supplier who delivers locally that I found on ebay.

[mumtominx]

Soon to get a softener installed but the plumber has not advised a boiling water tap as it would not be using softened water and would scale up really quickly.

Is it ok to have the boiling water tap running off the softened water then?

[PigletJohn]

I would

have you looked at the low-sodium diet info above?

[OrangeSunset]

Thanks Piglet for the info. The plumber didn't sound like he was convinced re. corrosion so I'm now prepared to stand my ground.

thekingfisher when you say it's more efficient to use the blocks, do you mean in cost per year? It does sound like an easier method of topping up the salt.